The Godfather Part II

A sequel that is also a prequel. Two narratives run inside each other. One is Michael's years at the head of the family; the other is his father's arrival from Sicily to New York and his first rise. The Michael line opens in Nevada. The family has moved to Las Vegas, gone into gambling, and an investment in Cuba is being prepared. There is an attempt on his life and Michael understands it came from inside the house. From there the film is an investigation. A Senate hearing, a witness, a lawyer, a night of revolution in Havana, and a circle of trust that keeps narrowing. The Vito line runs the other way. A young man gains power in one neighbourhood by being useful to people, and loses nobody. What the narrative is interested in is not crime but solitude: set side by side, the father widens his circle as he wins and the son loses everyone as he wins. The Fredo line is the heart of the film and the scene on the lake is where the narrative closes. For Vito the actor studied the Sicilian dialect and the lines are largely in Italian; the part is the youth of a character that won another actor an Academy Award in the previous film, and it won a second. It remains the only case of one character bringing awards to two different actors. The film won Best Picture, the first sequel to do so. Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale and Lee Strasberg are in the cast. Francis Ford Coppola directed and wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo. Who it is for: anyone who has seen the first film and wants a colder continuation. Who it is not for: anyone looking for pace; it runs over three hours and is almost entirely talk.